For anybody else who still looking for dessert ideas, I found a recipe for something called crack pie: cookie crust and a filling of butter, sugar, eggs and cream. It turns out gooey like the filling on a pecan pie and is unbelievable.

First of all-I am a chronic overcooker for holidays. My holiday planning usually goes like this:

1) Plan a menu.2) Decide something is missing and add 3 new items to the menu.3) Go over it with DH. DH reminds me that 10 people don't need a turkey and a ham and 4 different vegetable options. Remove 4 or 5 items from the menu.4) Look at it again and decide it just isn't enough food and add back 2 of the items previously removed.5) Actual cooking and holiday meal.6) Start telling people that they HAVE to take something home with them. DH and I (even with the cat's help) cannot eat all of the leftovers. Glare at sister when she says "Oh, I would have to leave you short." She knows better, but she thinks it is funny (every year) that I am such a bad overcooker.

So take anything I say with a grain of salt or three:

When I am doing desserts, I always make something that is traditional (usually pumpkin pie and pecan pie), something fruity (usually either an apple or a cherry pie) and something else (like a chocolate cream pie, lemon merinuge or a cheesecake or carrot cake). We invariably have more dessert than we need. But DH and my mom love pecan pie (and I am pretty fond of it). Sis's boyfriend and oldest child love pumpkin pie (and I like it too). My sister loves cherry pie and is very fond of apple. And I like to try something a little out of the ordinary for the holiday. We have, on occasion, ended up with a ratio of 1 dessert for every 2 people. Which is why people are not allowed out of my house at the holidays without taking some sort of leftovers with them. :>

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Lynn

"Anyone who considers protocol unimportant has never dealt with a cat." Robert A. Heinlein

Lynnv - you are like my soul sister. I, too, seriously over-cook/bake/do. I plan menus and then add to it because it will "never" be "enough". So then guests take home enough food for a week and we have food for a week! At least! But I would rather have too much than not enough. This year we are going to the in-law's, so it is not even a matter of menu planning ... sheesh!

Lynnv, you sound just like me. This year I'm cooking for 5 adults and 2 toddlers. I'm making a 13lb turkey, 4 vegetable dishes, 2 potato dishes, a double batch of dressing, and rolls. And I have a justification for each and every dish.

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"From a procrastination standpoint, today has been wildly successful."

Ok, OP here with the update. I did make individual chocolate bundt cakes with fresh raspberries and fresh mint, and pecan pumpkin pie. Everything looked gorgeous! Husband tried both desserts and he said the pie was a little too sweet for him (pumpkin pie on the bottom, pecan pie on top basically, so, yeah) but the chocolate bundt cakes were the runaway hit. I think the fresh raspberries put them over the edge. Thanks to all!

I must've missed the recipe for the chocolate bundt cakes. Can someone point me to the post #? Thanks! They sound so yummy! And we love raspberries!

All I did was use a recipe for a basic chocolate pound cake and bake them in mini bundt cake pans. You can certainly even use your favorite chocolate cake mix as well. I did add some almond extract to make the flavor pop as well!